fries with a side of love. baekyeol

열셋

⠀⠀Kyungsoo managed to get permission to stay at Baekhyun's apartment. He also managed to fend off a very tired and enraged Baekbeom from tearing Baekhyun's head off after getting wind of the news, which Baekhyun thought was a miracle entirely in itself.

⠀⠀It was nearly midnight, and Baekhyun was tightly holding onto one of his pillows while huddled underneath his comforter, Kyungsoo sitting cross-legged next to him while silently shuffling a deck of cards he had brought along. Occasionally, Kyungsoo's eyes flitted to the right to glance at his best friend before he sighed and stopped his movement with the cards.

⠀⠀"Baekhyun, you haven't eaten anything today," he mumbled worriedly as he poked Baekhyun in the cheek. "I know you're depressed but Chanyeol isn't coming back from you starving."

⠀⠀"Technically, I ate bread and drank milk," Baekhyun retorted before turning away from Kyungsoo. His stomach rumbled and he winced—food was quite important to him, but he couldn't find it in himself to care about eating. It seemed to be at the bottom of his priority list.

⠀⠀"Yeah—both of which I had to threaten and basically force down your goddamn throat," Kyungsoo scoffed. Baekhyun could practically hear the eye roll in the other boy, and he decided to fling his pillow towards his friend's general direction, allowing himself a small, satisfactory smile after hearing a soft umph.

⠀⠀"Oh, fuck you, Byun," Kyungsoo softly groaned as he kicked the pillow back towards Baekhyun.

⠀⠀"Love you too, loser," Baekhyun turned back around to flash Kyungsoo a pained smile before facing away once more.

⠀⠀What had happened earlier—Chanyeol fleeing at the sight of him and Lu Han spatting out at him particularly —made his heart heavy. Nothing felt quite right. There didn't seem to be much need of anything—not food, not friends, nothing. Baekhyun wondered how he could be so stupid and mess everything up. He should've known better; life didn't give you second chances.  There was only silence for a moment before Baekhyun heard Kyungsoo scooting himself closer to him before feeling a cool hand on his covered side.

⠀⠀"Baekhyun, just give things a little bit of time," Kyungsoo said softly as he got onto his stomach and rested his head on Baekhyun's chest. He found Baekhyun's hand and laced their fingers together, squeezing tightly once before untangling their fingers again. "You fucked up bad, but Chanyeol's a nice guy. Explain it to him, and he'd understand."

⠀⠀"Soo, I don't even have a good excuse for what I did," Baekhyun murmured, his voice suddenly choked up and thick with emotion all of a sudden. He folded his hands behind his head and stared up at the ceiling while Kyungsoo rearranged himself to lay next to him, copying the older's positioning.

⠀⠀"Just tell me what happened, hyung."

⠀⠀Baekhyun didn't have to explain much; the confrontation with Daehyun in front of their classmates, the peer pressure, the sheer amount of alcohol that he drank that night was just about it. Kyungsoo didn't like that last part, scrunching his nose up in distaste, but he simply stayed quiet and nodded every once in a while to Baekhyun's tale. The things that were coming out of his best friends were not things Kyungsoo had never heard before, so it was easy for him to understand.

⠀⠀"Chanyeol was one of the best things that ever happened to me, and I guess I just thought I had left that part of me and my past behind," Baekhyun finished, nearly sounding like he was about to break down into tears at that moment. Kyungsoo turned his head to the left to look at Baekhyun before shifting a little to hug the boy tightly.

⠀⠀"Did you feel bad after realizing what you had done, hyung?" Kyungsoo questions softly. Baekhyun looked at him, his eyes glazed over like the tears were already well on their way before nodding once. Kyungsoo smiled at him gently before squeezing him tight.